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Barbie dolls

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Thu February 10th, 2011, 12:55 am

[quote=""burlgirl""]
I also have a nice collections of Disney dolls - mainly Sleeping Beauty, but a few Snow Whites and Cinderellas.[/quote] I also have Sleeping Beauty dolls - I didn't mention that in my earlier posts because I figured collecting Barbie dolls was bad enough. :o

Since Sleeping Beauty was one of only about three Disney movies I saw growing up, and the only one with a princess, she quite naturally became my favorite. I have the anniversary doll that Disney put out a few years ago (40th anniversary? 35th?) and she is the nicest by far. And I made sure I got a couple with blue dresses, since that is the color she wore in the movie, not pink. :)

I haven't bought any for several years, and probably won't buy anymore -- I have eight, which is enough, and I really don't have room to display any more.

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burlgirl
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Post by burlgirl » Thu February 10th, 2011, 1:20 am

Yup, I have that anniversary SB doll, and there was a lovely one that came out some time ago in blue, my favorite of the dresses as well. I'd post a picture of here if I could figure out how to do it from the my pictures on my computer... :mad:

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Telynor
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Post by Telynor » Thu February 17th, 2011, 5:36 am

For those who are collectors of these, one of the new ones, the Renaissance Faire Barbie, is quite pretty, all blond hair and pale blue gown. Sadly, there's a few others that are downright ugly -- the two Japanese ones are grotesque. But the Russian ones are nice, if grossly expensive. (Toying with the idea of getting the Nicholai one...)

You can see them here:
http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/catalog

Image

Image

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Thu February 17th, 2011, 6:23 am

I like the Ren Faire one, also; I wonder why they didn't give her some sort of headpiece, though? That would have looked much more authentic, I think. The redheaded fan club doll is also very cute. I don't care for any of the others (I like the Russian Ken but not the Russian Barbies). Oh, well, at least I'm not suffering any temptation! :)

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Tanzanite
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Post by Tanzanite » Mon June 6th, 2011, 2:44 am

So I was bitten by the bug to buy some of the Barbies in period/medievalish looking outfits - fortunately we are moving so when they come, they go in a box and my husband hasn't seen them...

For those of you that collect Barbies, do you leave them in the box? For now, I'm buying them because I like them and I"ll need some stuff to decorate my new apartment in DC, so why not these along with my books!! It seems kind of strange to display them in the box, but most of the ones that I've bought are still in their boxes, unopened. I guess if ever i decide to sell them they will be worth more if they've never been opened but I think they would look better display wise if they were out of the box. Decisions, decisions...

The good thing is I've cut back on my book buying; the bad thing is these are more expensive than most used books.

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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Mon June 6th, 2011, 3:14 am

[quote=""Tanzanite""]So I was bitten by the bug to buy some of the Barbies in period/medievalish looking outfits - fortunately we are moving so when they come, they go in a box and my husband hasn't seen them...

For those of you that collect Barbies, do you leave them in the box? For now, I'm buying them because I like them and I"ll need some stuff to decorate my new apartment in DC, so why not these along with my books!! It seems kind of strange to display them in the box, but most of the ones that I've bought are still in their boxes, unopened. I guess if ever i decide to sell them they will be worth more if they've never been opened but I think they would look better display wise if they were out of the box. Decisions, decisions...

The good thing is I've cut back on my book buying; the bad thing is these are more expensive than most used books.[/quote]

If you plan on selling them eventually, they're more valuable in the box. A lot depends on how many Barbies of a certain type are produced, though. Many of the dolls marketed specifically to adult collectors are sold in fairly large quantities, so they probably won't go up much in value, and you might as well have fun and take them out of the box. If the doll's hard to find or sold in very limited quantities, you're better off keeping her in the box. For the dolls marketed for children to play with, you might be best buying two--one to keep pristine in the box, the other to use in displays, to re-costume, etc.

I haven't bought any in a while, but I really want these two:

http://dollattic.com/shopsite_sc/store/ ... t3206.html

http://dollattic.com/shopsite_sc/store/ ... t3205.html

I do keep most of mine in the box, since I have no space in which to display them at the moment.
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles


http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Mon June 6th, 2011, 3:42 am

[quote=""Tanzanite""]
For those of you that collect Barbies, do you leave them in the box? [/quote] There are different schools of thought among Barbie collectors. Some never remove them from the box, because that is how they retain their highest value (if you see Barbies for sale on the secondary market and they're noted "NRFB", that means "never removed from box)." And many of the boxes are very attractive in themselves. However, I find displaying them in their boxes too difficult, so I have taken mine out and displayed them in curios. (and some dolls, like the porcelain ones, would be impossible to display in the box). I keep the boxes, and handle them carefully, so if I ever wanted to sell my dolls someday I would note them as "MIB" ("mint in box") which means the doll has been removed from the box but is in mint condition. I don't intend to sell mine, but if I do, I won't really care if they've lost some value -- after all, I've had them for 15 years already, so I've gotten my "money's worth" out of them! And as BB said, the dolls that have been produced specifically for adult collectors in the last 15-20 years or so probably aren't going to go up much in value, anyway. So I guess what you choose to do depends on whether you look at your dolls as an "investment," or something that you have just for your own enjoyment. But either way, I would definitely advise keeping the boxes.

I do have four dolls, though, that I have never taken out of their boxes, and those are my Scarlett O'Hara Barbies. I just think the boxes add so much that I didn't want to remove the dolls. And I don't have room in my curios to display any more dolls, anyway. The downside is that the Scarletts are just kept in a closet.

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]
I haven't bought any in a while, but I really want these two:

[/quote] I like the Da Vinci one -- she looks like a different head mold, though. Her forehead looks larger/wider than the standard Barbie head.
Last edited by Michy on Mon June 6th, 2011, 3:45 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Tanzanite
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Post by Tanzanite » Thu June 9th, 2011, 11:14 pm

Thanks for the info/opinions on whether to de-box or not. I was going to buy the Ren Faire one but I went to Toys R Us today to get it and I didn't like it at all - I thought it looked very cheap, especially the dress, so I decided to buy the Da Vinci one instead.

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Thu June 9th, 2011, 11:29 pm

Unfortunately, it is generally the case that (except for the really expensive ones) the dolls look better in the Mattel photos than they do in "person."

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Tanzanite
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Post by Tanzanite » Thu June 9th, 2011, 11:56 pm

That's probably true! Some of the older ones I've gotten (from the 90's Princess/Dolls of the World) don't seem too far off though,

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